GENERAL ELECTRIC TO INVEST $2 BILLION IN NIGERIA'S RAILWAY PROJECT.

The minister for transport in Nigeria told journalists in an
interview with CNBC yesterday the American company General Electric
has concrete plans to event about $2 billion in the country's railway
sector. He also said that the Federal government was looking for
investment from both private and public partnership deals as a source
to fund improvements in the transport sector.
As for the private investment, General Electric an American
multinational conglomerate based in new york will be pumping in 2
billion dollars to revive the Lagos-Kano gauge, and Port Harcourt
Maidugiri narrow gauge.

The former governor of Rivers State said:
"It is good that such kind of funds will come into
the economy, it will create employment, it will
increase business and everybody will be part of
the process."
He also added that the arrangement will ensure that much stress
is taken off the shoulders of the federal government. This is because,
the government will not be funding the rail projects, but will only
initiate them, and the investors will take over. President Buhari will
be flagging of the Lagos-Kano line by july and by the end of this
year, the Lagos Ibadan section of the line should have been
constructed.
A loan has also been procured from a Chinese bank, and the
condition for the loan is that one of the contractors will have to
come from China. And the minister for transport has disclosed that the
services of CCECC(China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation).
The total cost for the line should be about 3.5 billion dollars, and
minister says there are plans to employ as many people as possible for
the work. The construction should span a period of about three years.
Rotimi Amaechi also disclosed that the government was still
expecting the bulk of the $160 billion dollars needed to renovate the
Nation's transport sector. And so, plans were being made to invites as
many investors as possible to the podium.
According to him, Nigeria has a very big market that favours
investors a lot, and it wouldn't take time for investors to get back
there money once the system has started working. The new rail system
will be dual purpose, both passenger and freight transportation.
Ameachi also added the the Federal government had also made
efforts to cut down on costs and save money by negotiating some of the
deals saving up almost 1 billion dollars.
''We negotiated that one from $11.97 billion to $
11.17 billion, saving the country $800million.''

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NIGERIAN LITERARY ICON, ELECHI AMADI IS DEAD.

Popular Nigerian author Capt. Elechi Amadi has dead. He died
at 82. Elechi Amadi, who wrote popular novels like The
concubine,Isiburu,Sunset in Biafra,Peppersoup and others died on
wednesday afternoon, after a brief illness.
Elechi Amadi(born 12th may 1934) is a Nigerian author and
novelist who wrote narrative novels mainly on the Igbo village setting
and cultural beliefs, especially the period before contact with
western civilisation. Elechi Amadi was born in 1934 in Aluu community
in Ikwerre Local Government of Rivers State. He attended Government
College Umuahia(1948-1952), Survey college, Oyo(1953-1954) and
University of Ibadan(1955-1959). He obtained a degree in Physics and
Mathematics from the University of Ibadan.
Elechi served in the Nigerian Army during the civil war and
remained there even after the war, attaining the position of Captain.
This was after he had worked as a teacher and land surveyor. After
leaving the army, he held several positions in Rivers State. He served
as the permanent secretary of the state between 1973-1983;
Commissioner for Education(1987-1988) and Commissioner for Lands and
Housing(1989-1990).
Capt.Elechi also worked as a writer-in-residence and as a
lecturer in Rivers State University where he also held the position of
Head of Literature department.
Honours and Awards:
In 1992, Elechi Amadi won the Rivers State silver Jubilee merit Award.
In 2003 he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree as doctor of
Science(D.Sc) from the Rivers State University of Science and
Technology(Popularly called UST). In 2003 he he became a fellow of the
Nigerian Academy of Education. In the same 2003 he also became a
member of the Order of the Federal Republic(MFR).
In May 2004 a conference was organised by the Association of
Nigerian Authors, Rivers State branch to mark his 70th birthday.
In 2009, 5th January, Elechi was kidnapped at his hometown in Port
Harcourt, he was released a day later on the sixth of January.
Amadi's first 'accomplished' work was the "Concubine" a novel
which made very successful attempts to picture pre-colonial life in
the riverine areas of the Niger Delta. It was regarded by many as a
"perfected work of pure fiction". Till his death the novel remained
the crown of all his works. In 2007, "The Concubine" was made into a
film, featuring popular nollywood actor-Andy Amenechi and directed by
Elechi Amadi himself.
The setting of of Amachi's second novel-The Great Ponds, shifted
to a wider area of the Eastern part Nigeria during the pre-colonial
era. It narrated the story of two villages fighting for a pond.
Amadi's autobiography-Sunset in Biafra narrates his experiences as a
Nigerian soldier during the civil war.
Other works by the writer include:
*Isiburu(a play, on Igbo cultural setting) 1973
*Peppersoup and the road(a play)1977
*Dancer of Johannesburg(a play)1778
*The Slave(Novel) 1978
*Ethics in Nigerian culture.(Philosophy)1983
*Enstrangement(Novel)1986
*The woman of Calabar(Play)2002
*Speaking and Singing(a book on essays and poems).2003
*Collected poems(edited)2004

***PS References for this post: Wikipedia, elechiamdi.org,"the
concubine" preface and forward, Britannica, Americana.

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Next up: General Electric to invest in Nigeria's 2bn railway sector.

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EKWEREMADU'S OPEN LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY.

*Deputy senate president writes letter to.
UK,EU,US.
*Attorney General to appear before senate.
Roughly 24 hours after his arraignment, the deputy senate president
has made an attempt to put the international community on red alert on
what he feels is a plot to kill Nigeria's democracy. In the letter
which was written to the UK and copied to the European Union, and the
governments of the United States, Senator Ike Ekweremadu asked for
fair judgement on his involvement in the alleged forgery of senate
rules.
On June 21th, Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu were arraigned at
an Abuja court on a two count charge that read: "That
you, Salisu Maikasuwa, Benedict Efeturi, Dr.
Olubukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu, on or
about June 9, 2015, at the National Assembly
complex, Three Arms Zone, Abuja, within the
jurisdiction of this court, conspired amongst
yourselves to forge the Senate Standing Order,
2011 (as amended) and you thereby committed
the offence of conspiracy, punishable under
Section 97 (1) of the Penal Code Law."
And yesterday 28th June, the court had another hearing on the case
which also involved two members of the house of assembly, a former
chief clerk and his deputy, the court granted the four defendants
conditional bail. Thereafter, the defendants met the bail conditions
and left the court grounds
But hours later, Senator Ekeremadu has decided to take up a plea
to the international community querying the rationale behind his
arraignment. The two paged latter was titled: "Re: Trumped up Charges
Against the Presiding Officers of the Eighth Senate: Nigerian
Democracy is in Grave Danger"
Accompanying the letter were attachments including copies of the
court summons and other relevant documents relating to the case. He
urged the international community to take time to go through the
documents and decide if the procedure was proper, or was just some
scheme to exterminate and emasculate a top ranking member of the
opposition in the senate. He insisted that the prosecution was purely
not justifiable at all because neither his name nor Saraki's name were
mentioned in the petition written by the senate, not even in the
papers used by the police to investigate the case.
He also alleged in the letter that he was never given an
opportunity to fair hearing on the matter and that during the
investigation the police did not ask him any questions or even make
efforts to query. He said he was charged to court straight from
detention.
He added the the matter to the list of other events involving
"prosecution of government officers, targeted arrests of principal
opposition members and continual and indefinite detention of
opposition officers inspite of disapproving voices and also the
marginalisation of the South East and South South". He termed these "a
clear violation of the constitution and as well a threat to a hard
earned democracy.
The letter read in part:
"I wish to appeal to you to kindly find time to read through these
annexures including the petitions by members of the Senate Unity
Forum, persons interrogated and the police report to see if our names
appeared anywhere on these documents. You may thereafter conclude if
the Federal Government acting through the Attorney General of the
Federation has any justifications whatsoever to generate our names for
trial".
"Moreover, the rules and principles of fair hearing have not been
adhered to because the police have neither interracted with me nor the
president of the senate up till this time"
Ekweremadu also made referrence to an attempt made on his life on
November 17,2015, and queried why the security agents had not moved a
foot in investigating the matter. He said that "all these" culminated
to a plot to eliminate a principal representative of a marginalised
section of the masses-the South East and South South.
There are suggestions that executive(presidency) is displeased
with the emergence of Saraki as the president of the senate in place
of APC preferred choice Senator Ahmed Lawal. Senator Saraki had defied
the wishes of his original party APC by consenting to the demands of
PDP members who insisted that their support for his bid for presidency
will only be on the condition that he picked Ekweremadu as his running
mate for deputy. This propably angered APC who had preferred Saraki to
pick Lawal. This explains why the executive could be in a conspiracy
to handicap the legislature. That is if their plans to kick out Saraki
and his deputy and install their preferred choice does not work.

Tension in the house:
the prosecution and arraignment of the senate president and his
deputy has continued to sustain so much unease and heat in the senate.
Supporters of the president and his deputy have proceeded to
strategise plans that will counter the schemes of a 'shady' executive.
Earlier last week, the PDP cabals in the senate had passed a vote of
no confidence on the executive led by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. This
means that proposals and policies will now face very stiff opposition
and criticism at the senate.
For now, the senate is on break, and the president is
observing religious obligations. Femi Adesina, the media
representative of the President of the executive, Gen Buhari has said
that the President will not comment on Ekweremadu's letter.

*AGF to appear before senate committee: The

Attorney General of the Federation has been summoned to appear before
the senate committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters
tommorrow 30th June to explain why he chose to prosecute the forgery
case. The AGF was supposed to present himself at the senate summon
last thursday, but was unable to, and the date will now be tommorrow.
The move to invite the AGF for question comes after Senator
Dino Melaye of Kogi West zone insisted that the AGF should by
questioned for re-opening a case that was previously dropped by
Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a High court in Abuja. He termed it "a
threat to democracy". Should the AGF Mr.Malami honour the invitation,
he sure will be aggressively queried for picking up a case that wasn't
supposed to be his business. Justice Kolawale,last year had ruled that
the alleged case of senate rule forgery was a chamber affair and
should be settled out of court.

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IS THIS A GRAND PLOT BY EFCC TO EXTERMINATE FEMI KAYODE?

Reports have surfaced suggesting that the Nigerian Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission have a plan to detain the former minister
of aviation Femi Fani Kayode till he probably dies in prison.
Not just that, the EFCC operative who once assaulted Femi Fani
Kayode will not be punished this was revealed by Femi's spokesman. And
there is the possibility that the decision made by the agency to
punish the operative is in line with a grand conspiracy plot to send
Femi to jail and kill him there.
Femi Fani Kayode was allegedly assaulted by Kabiru Suleiman for
the 'crime' of observing his prayers while in detention. In the
custody of EFCC. Kabiru is an operative of EFCC. The former minister
for aviation was detained by the Economic Financial and Crimes
Commission after he honoured an invitation by the anti-corruption
agency. The agency had summoned him for explanation regarding funds
looted and diverted from CBN treasury. This happened on May 9, 2016.
Since then, Femi Fayode has been in the custody of the
commission(5 weeks now). After his initial detention in Abuja for
roughly two weeks, Femi was transferred to Lagos for further
questioning and investigation. Still without trial, a detention
warrant was obtained by the commission to keep for another three
weeks.
After the three weeks, EFCC announced that Femi would be
arraigned on June 17, 2016, on a friday. But the arrangement was later
aborted when the judge who was supposed to rule the case got engaged
in another case. The date was shifted by four days to to tuesday, 21st
June, this time the judge to rule on the case was absent. This led to
a loud outcry from various quarters of the sitting court, including
Femi's wife who accompanied him to the court.
It was also reported that another EFCC operative had sent a
nerve shivering threat to Femi Kayode, when he told him to the hearing
of people around that EFCC had the right to detain him(Femi) for the
next five years without trial. In his words: "we will kill you and
nothing will happen!"
The way EFCC and the Judiciary in charge of Femi's case are
handling it, it will be hard to disbelieve that another story similar
to Abiola's 1992 will soon be told. A source who expressed concern at
the proceedings said that Femi Kayode will be fortunate to leave the
claws of EFCC alive.
I fear for Kayode's life, because all these will go on and he
will not be tried. The recess for all judges in the federation is fast
approaching, and it is going to span four three months. So there's the
high possibility that EFCC will play the case at their finger tips and
Fayode may not be able to submit a bail application before the judges
go on break. And if the worst happens, Fayode could be spending extra
three months in Jail.
From the reports of a few sources, the EFCC top tier is
comprises of mainly muslims who are ardent supporters of Gen. Buhari.
And these northerners and muslims harbour so much hate for Femi, and
will do anything possible to exterminate him. The hate comes because
on several occasions Femi had openly criticised the leadership of
Buhari.

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HOW TO SURVIVE IN A CHALLENGING ECONOMY.

Image: the nigerian N1000 note has lost so much value. The
purchasing of the post independent N1 is even far stronger than
N1000.-2016

Tips that could help you stay afloat in these harsh economic
times in Nigeria.

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Prices are so high, money has lost its value and even the
money is scarce. Basic one source income can hardly sustain the
already low standard of living. Credit rates are peaking. The big
question is, how do you brace yourself and not go under? How do you
stay afloat?
First you have to know that there are two ways money you can get
money, either you make or you save the money. But you can actually
make so much money by obeying a few rules of life especially in these
times of terrible lack.

1) Take a review on your income: By now you would have known your
source(s) of income and how much you can squeeze out from them every
month. Knowing the figures at your finger tips will help prepare you
for a budget. What's your pay check like? Can it atleast comfortably
cover up your basic expenses for the month. This is the basic, because
if you have a job that can cover your basic needs as a modest human
then you'll need to make some changes. Maybe you should consider
expanding your income chart by working two jobs.

2)Be Frugal in your spending: This is the right time to cut down on
expensive eating up your income. If you have a car that takes up much
more on fuel and maintenance than usual then you may consider selling
it and getting another and more economical one. This is the time you
have to reduce your shopping sprees, with a good electric iron, cloth
maintenance and once-in-a -while visit to a dry cleaner you could get
the best out of your appearance You could also do without that high
end iphone that cost you N200,000 naira, their are cheaper smartphones
that will serve you well.

3) Ditch that 'Gold Digger': If you are into a relationship that is
drilling holes in your pocket, then its time you look at it
critically. If you have someone, be it a casual friend or a date that
makes you spend unnecessarily. You may just have to tell them why the
need has come for you to watch your pockets. Explain things to them,
and tell him or her the effect it will have you if you didn't cut down
on those 'good time' expenses.-:
But that doesn't mean you can't get gifts for your friend or
partner when you are trying to save up. But, it shouldn't be that
expensive. No more costly dates. Let me be practical a bit, for the
guys, if taking 'her' out for launch will cost more, then consider
going to the market with her and cooking a meal you could both share.

4)You can't afford it? Then don't buy it!
This is a thumb rule in the world of financial wisdom, but it is
actually very difficult not to fail at it. But regardless, it still
remains in the tablet commandments of proper money management. Avoid
buying items you know you can't afford. Avoid ordering services you
know you can't afford. It may not be easy, with those brand new stuff
smiling brightly at you, but then its just funny getting a new
designer wear, jewellery or electronic item and then you go off
borrowing. Let's stand aside and analyse it, isn't it stupid? In
fact, if I were your creditor, I would feel cheated. "You spend your
money carelessly and when you don't have you come to borrow from me.
Do I look like I don't want an Ipad too. Or do you think my money is
for you to borrow?"

5) No matter the temptation oweing debts isn't the best way:
This brings us to another rule:
"You can't buy it is because you can't afford it"
Don't go borrowing to get that stuff when you know you can't afford
it. You would only. Be accumulating 'silly' depts. Forget that idea of
"I will pay back when things get better". What if you borrow that cash
to get that item,and the economy goes down the more what would you do.
Things are not going to get better but worse, because your creditors
will soon feel the pinch of the downsizing and come after you.
And another thing, avoid incuring debts with interest. You are
helping you creditor rather than helping youself.

6)Already in debt? Stop spending money:
Some times borrowing can't be avoided and has to be excused, but
when you have the 'proper' budget that saves your cash for you, it
becomes easier to squeeze out bits of cash to pay back. Moreover,
spending wildly will only lead to more borrowing. If you can make it a
rule never to borrow again without paying back on the previous money
you were credited with. It will help you greatly.
Not just that, having a good spending profile boosts your
credit qualifications. So if ever you have to borrow it wouldn't be a
hilly task. For pete's sake no one will want to lend to you if your
spending habit can only be termed 'unreasonable'.

7)Never put all your hopes on someone else!
When things go sour, people find themselves looking up to the
government and other people including their bosses for pity and help.
This is wrong. And that's because in times of scarcity, even the
government has no money to carry out the 'people empowerment'
programmes you may be expecting. Your boss at work is facing similar
problems as you are. He or she may even start looking at cutting costs
in business. And the next thing comes-Downsizing. You could be caught
in a nasty trap if you never prepared for this. And trust me, your
curses and complaints will not save the situation.
You have to prepare for such eventualities by saving up. But
what if its already too late to save, maybe you have to seek companies
that could grant you a loan with deferred payment. But it still boils
down to the importance of having a smart financial plan to prove your
ability to go through. All the same, if you are reading this page now
and you gotten to this point, "get up and start building up emergency
funds".

8)Look inwards: Well, its not all about saving up right. You still
must spend whether you fancy it or not. So after dropping those
not-so-good-during-harsh-times spending habits, we have to talk about
adding some 'corn' to your basic income. First, we have to begin from
your abilities. What other stuffs can you do at home that could give
you N1 or N2 here or there. Many moms and dads make bulky sums of good
cash creating youtube videos. Imagine creating tutorials videos that
would teach moms how to change diapers, mix baby milk and all that.
You may not be an instant hit, but it gets better. Especially when you
get to understand what your viewers like. How about simple tutorial
videos, or organising evening or weekend tutorial classes for pupils.
Here I'm talking about those 'little' but legal activities that will
hand you some change. You could engage in some petty trading, or piece
up a petty poultry project behind your home if you have the space.

9)Learn a skill: Downsizing also comes with scarcity of white collar
jobs. And if you have a skill that sells, you wouldn't find it
difficult getting a steady stream of money. You could even be getting
it on a daily basis. For example, I know that in Nigeria drivers and
craftsmen make so much money every day. People will have to move from
A to B places and people will always have a faulty generator,
television, mobile phone to repair.
Getting a skill becomes invaluable when you need daily bits of
income. Some commercial drivers in Nigeria live in one bedroom
apartments with families comprising of up to five members, but they
are still able to provide food, shelter, clothing, education and a few
luxuries like cable TV for their family. The power of daily income.

10)Cut out those bad habits: Unhealthy addictions like smoking and
drowning in booze with friends will not help at all. And its because
these addictions could even make you spend your feeding money on them.
Stop them, they are not going to take you anywhere. And yes, as a
human being sex could be a necessary evil, err...but if patronising
commercial sex workers is guilty of the crime of stealing the money
you don't even have, it should pay. Strike it out.

11)Gambling? Not the best solution: Forget those ad captions betting
sites use. You will only loose all you money if you start betting. And
when that addiction kicks,items 1-10 on this blogpost will become
nonesense. Watch it, resist any idea to 'increase' your fortune by
patronising 'Las Vegas'. Online or in shop. It has been scientifically
proved that there are very high chances you will loose out if you
gamble under financial pressure. Its better you hold the little you
have and no hand it over to bookmarkers. For pete's sake you ain't a
philanthropist!

12) Try producing your own food: Got any free farming space around?
Then use it. Plant the things you usually need as food ingredients.
The could range from vegetables, tubers(yams,potatoes), spices and
such stuff. Use the much you can and sell the rest.

13) Rent out, sell off or put up for service: This applies to whatever
you are not using at the moment. If you have a spare room in your
flat, you could give it out on a lease for rent. If you have a vehicle
that is rotting away in your garage, fix it up and put it on a
transport route. Or you could just sell it.

14)Work hard: Hey, I'll suggest you scroll up and read this article
one more time. Then get to work. You are never going to get out of
debt or ride firmly on the rough waves of a crashing economy while you
sit on some lazy ass!

Did I exhaust the topic? Did I answer your most pressing
questions? Send in any suggestions, questions,ideas or contribution to
this post if you have. Have nice day!

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LOL! ENGLAND HAS BEEN KICKED OUT OF EURO AND THE SOCIAL MEDIA CAN'T STOP MAKING FUN OF 'BREXIT'.

It hasn't really been the best of weeks for England so far.
First a referendum on thursday last week meant they were leaving the
European Union, and following that, Iceland has officially sent them
parking out of the competition.
"Meehn! U don't belong here!"

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RIHANNA SPICES UP NEW 'STAR TREK' MOVIE WITH 'SLEDGE HAMMER' SOUNDTRACK.

Rihanna popped up on twitter on sunday to announce that her new
single 'sledge hammer' will be debuting in the sound track of the next
star trek movie 'beyond'. But Fans don't have to wait till it hits the
theatre as she premiered it yesterday and its on itunes

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